A two-hundred-mile-wide hurricane
emerged from my ear
and laid waste to my house, garden
and the neighbor’s immaculate
rosebush planted last year.

I wanted to name the hurricane,
but the thought was blown away
as it crashed through
Austin and Jeb’s Tune-up Shop,
Waco and ol’ Bubba’s Liquor Barn
until it finally stalled
over Jasmina’s Food Mart in Dallas,
a food mart that had the
bad luck
of sitting right next to the house
George W. Bush and family

had retired to
after the worst
8 years as President
of these United States.

When the hurricane
mercifully decided to dissipate
above Bush’s home,
neighbors and
former constituents
picked themselves up,
gathered what few remaining
belongings they could find
and dejectedly trudged
back to their
devastated homes and cities.

A few shot accusatory,
evil glances at Bush’s house
that miraculously
remained intact,
except for the missing plastic
cross that had been
stuck in the front lawn
exclaiming “This is a Godly House.”